Weird Owl -
Ever the Silver Cord Be LoosedReview by John Pegoraro (StonerRock.com)
Tee Pee Records
Release date: February 17, 2009
Weird Owl's three song
Nuclear Psychology sampler was okay enough for a languid, heavy-on-the-Neil-Young type of band, but it didn't leave much of a lasting impression.
With Tee Pee Records debut,
Ever the Silver Cord Be Loosed, the Brooklyn-based band has figured out how to make their alt-country psych rock work for them. Sure, there's plenty of “Heart of Gold” twang to tracks like “13 Arrows, 13 Stars” and “Phases of the Moon,” but this time around, Weird Owl doesn't sound so indebted to the Crazy Horse frontman's body of work (okay, maybe parts of “In the Secrecy of Oceans” are very reminiscent of “Ohio”).
The band's best on “Mind Mountain,” “Do What th' Owl Wilt,” and “Flying Low Through the Air After Thunder,” numbers where they up the psych quotient while still maintaining strong songwriting focus. Ultimately,
Ever the Silver Cord Be Loosed doesn't quite match up to albums like The Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound's
Ekranoplan, Black Mountain's
In the Future, or The Black Angels'
Passover, but it's certainly in the same ballpark. If you ask me, that's not bad company to keep.
URL: http://www.myspace.com/weirdowl